Something In The Air / Time of their LivesProducer: Caitlin Shea / Ian HarleyResearcher: Caitlin Shea

SAM BAILEY: When you're six-foot high, bullet proof.. you know my life was going to be spent with my five dogs and just myself. It's amazing how a split second can change your life.

GRAHAM BAILEY: To see that boy take off into the sunset by gee.. unbelievable.

JENNY BLACK: Hi I'm Jenny Black and I've been a rural reporter with ABC radio in Tamworth, in northern New South Wales for six years. In that time I've met some farmers facing some pretty tough challenges but there's one who's overcome more obstacles than most. His name's Sam Bailey. He's the most inspiring person I've ever met.

SAM BAILEY: I was born on the family farm at a little place called Croppa Creek which is about 80 kilometres north east of Moree in northern New South Wales. It was my dream when I left school to take over from dad, get married have kids, you know that was the life that I thought I'd have.

LIBBY BAILEY: Well he was a terrible kid from the time he was about five years old he had to be out where the men were, where the action was. As a consequence he was forever getting tangled in things and jammed in things. He crushed his finger in a pressure unit. He ripped his thigh open on a barbwire fence. He ever went under a scarifier tar at one stage. I didn't remember seeing a scarifier tar but Graham came in carrying this limp little body and he said "I've run over him, I've run over him." I suppose really in a sense when he did have the accident realistically it was only par for the course.

SAM: At age 19 I set off to the Northern Territory and I had this car accident. We had a blow out in the front tyre. I was a passenger in the back and I didn't have a seat belt on. The car rolled several times. I was thrown out of the back windscreen and woke up lying on the side of the road and was paralysed and I couldn't move. Very very quickly I worked out that something was pretty seriously wrong. And I remember saying to some tourists that pulled up: "Gee I hope I don't spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair."

LIBBY BAILEY: I remember walking into the ward and saying to him "Sam you've done some pretty awful things to me and my life, but this takes the cake". And just for a minute we were both able to laugh and I think that that probably helped a bit.

SAM: Looking back it was a huge knock. At the age of 19, you're six foot high, bullet proof and you're having a wow of a time and it was a hell of a knock to all of a sudden going from that to being completely dependent on everyone for everything in the first few months. And I guess I was lucky, from a very early stage I thought, well okay it's happened, you can't do anything about it, you know you don't get any prizes for sitting in your corner and whingeing and so Sam you've just to make, do the best you can with what you've got left.

Sam is classified a C6-7 quadriplegic which means he is paralysed from the chest down and has limited use of his arms and hands.

SAM: I've got no feeling from there down at all. (he points to chest) I've lost about 75% of my lung capacity, I've lost bowel and bladder control, but probably the biggest thing that restricts me is I can't regulate my temperature. So basically in summer I boil, in winter I freeze. The doctors, the OT's, the physios all suggested, look you've got this huge physical disability, obviously farming is a physical game and you've lost a lot of that perhaps now the best option for you is an office and a computer. And I thought God there's no way in the world I could come to that.

LIBBY BAILEY: I can well remember the day he first came home from hospital and it was all very strange. We wondered whether his wheelchair would go through the doors. We were all trying to be hale and hearty and terribly normal but it was all very strained. He went into his bedroom and there was his surf board leaning up against the wall that he'd never ride again and his football boots and his horse in the paddock and I think those things hadn't really hit him until he got home.

SAM: As each day went on I thought gee perhaps they were right. Perhaps I can't work and perhaps I should be getting back to the city and I went through a fair bit of depression in those early months.

LIBBY: Let's face it when he first came home he couldn't even turn over in bed at night I had to get up three times a night to turn him in bed.

GRAHAM BAILEY: The wheelchair was a nightmare and we thought that the only thing we could do, to get Sam going, is to get rid of the chair.

SAM: I remember one day Dad and my brother went into town. The guy in there said look how about taking one of these four wheelers home for Sam. I came out and said, "don't even worry about taking that thing off the back of the ute". But anyway they did. And I thought I'll just have a go at getting on this thing and I think the first couple of attempts I ended up on the ground but I eventually got on it and once I was on it I was quite amazed at how stable I was. And I guess that was the first big step of actually achieving something on the farm. And all of a sudden I thought well perhaps you know, now I can do my stuff and now I can ferry things around the property and actually, feeling as though I was doing something useful.

Things then progressed from there.

I'd always wanted to fly. I thought well perhaps now I've got an opportunity maybe to learn to fly.

GRAHAM: Took on flying an ultralight. I mean that was brilliant. That was a Kosciusko. For Sam, he could do something that five hundred thousand other people couldn't do. Fly an aircraft. I mean to see that boy take off into the sunset by gee .. unbelievable. And that gave him the feeling that nothing was impossible. The hurdles were lower and he could climb them.

SAM: And I guess the next big thing was a lot of the machinery on the property, once I got up into the seat I was right. But I had to get from here up into there. And obviously with a lot of paraplegics they have got their whole upper strength and can pull and lift and, I didn't have any of that so I eventually bought a little crane that they sometimes put in the back of farm trucks. We sort of worked out a way that we could put a seat on the end of it. It was remote controlled and I could heave myself up and my father could then back me through the door of the particular bit of machinery and away I went. And this really opened up big doors for me because all of a sudden now I could drive a tractor, I could drive a header at harvest time, a front end loader, a bulldozer and all of a sudden my life became flat out. All of this had taken probably five or six years though. I was important again. I could do basically everything around the farm. There I was. I was a quadriplegic and I was farming.

There was always a hole though. There was always a hole of not having a female companion. How my life was going to be spent with my five dogs and just myself. It's amazing how a split second can change your life.

One day I had a telephone call from Jenny Black who was a reporter with ABC Radio in Tamworth. She wanted to come up and do a story on me. Anyway we chatted for quite a while and I remember getting off the phone and thinking gee she sounds alright.. What a great girl. And it was funny because I started painting a picture in my own mind of what this Jenny Black looked like. And I imagined she was tall and she was dark with an olive complexion. And as every day went by she got taller and taller and darker and darker. Then to the day of reckoning she was going to arrive and I remember being very excited about this. Jumped on my bike and I went down to the front ramp and I thought I'd wait for her. I could see this wall of dust coming. As the car got closer I got a bit of a red glare so instantly the dark complexion, the olive skin disappeared.

JENNY BLACK: And he met me on the bike as I was driving into the property and I immediately thought, aw he's really nice looking. So I guess at that stage I already thought aw he's nice.

SAM: Sure enough I followed her up to the house and out hopped a red haired, freckly, sawn off little runt. We spent the next three or four hours together and there was spark right from the word go.

You're listening to ABC Radio New England NorthWest, Jenny Black with you this morning. At twenty to seven ...

SAM: So there began a two year claytons love affair. I guess I was able to keep it going because I could turn the radio on each morning and hear this voice and picture her and she was chirpy and she made me feel happy.

We'll catch up with some of those farmers who've been dealing with that problem and a little later we have a look at how cotton prices ...

JENNY: I had no idea at all that Sam was madly in love with me for those two years. Well madly in love is probably not the right term, but I had no idea how Sam felt about me.

SAM: I said to Jen "would you like to come out for lunch" and she said "look I can't I've got something else on". And I thought to myself well if she vaguely likes me she'll say well how about we do something tomorrow or next weekend or something or other. And she didn't say anything at all. But her dog Winky was there and she came over and jumped up and put her two paws on my arm in the car and Jen said, "that's amazing. My dog never takes to someone that quickly." And I was thinking to myself, well I wish you'd take some bloody lessons from your dog.

JENNY: He became a very special friend. We'd often speak on the phone and if I was in the area I'd come and stay and because I think that when somebody's disabled and in a wheelchair like Sam was, I think you have to become friends with them first. I don't think that you're ready to take it all on that quickly. I think you need to get to know them and accept the wheelchair. Because like Sam had to accept the wheelchair I had to as well.

SAM: I went through this enormous frustration of one day I'd think, "aw I can't go through with it" and the next day I'd think "yeah I can". The next day I thought no I just can't.. I can't, I can't load her up with this disability of mine. Then finally I woke one morning and I thought Sam this is not the bloke that I know. What are you frigging around for? Get into it. And so I rang her up that night and she came up for the weekend and away we went.

JENNY: He's the nicest guy I've ever met. I mean why, why would you turn your back on that just because he can't walk and do a few things. You mean you'd never.. I could never do that.

SAM: Obviously I realised this is the girl that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I'd thought about the engagement and I thought why not do something special.

JENNY: I thought Sam was going to Brisbane and I got a phone call Thursday night from my boss who was doing breakfast to say she didn't feel very well, could I go and do breakfast.

SAM: I had to get one of the girls to fake a sickie to get Jenny in that morning so I could pop the question.

JENNY: The equipment wasn't working properly and I was a having a dreadful, dreadful morning. I mean everything that could go wrong was.

SAM: Anyway I got down there and all the ABC crew were there. They were just as excited as I was. And they whisked me into an office.

JENNY: We do a brainteaser so I asked the question.

SAM: I said Jenny I've got absolutely no idea the answer to your brainteaser this morning. But on New England North West Radio, Jenny I've got a brainteaser for you. But the question is: "will you marry me and spend the rest of your life by my side?"

JENNY: I don't believe this Sam. Yes I will. I will.

JENNY: And I was speechless which if anyone knows me knows it's a very unusual thing and then I was just going. I can't believe this. I can't. I just couldn't believe that he would do that.

SAM: We were married in the school chapel where I went to school. We returned home to the property here where we're restoring an old house at the moment, living beside Mum and Dad and it's all working out very well.

LIBBY: We're absolutely delighted because Jenny is just right for him in every way.

JENNY: I mean Sam couldn't have a girl that just stayed inside and just washed and cooked. But I'm not like that. I'm a very practical person. I was born that way. I love fencing. I love doing stock work. Together there's nothing we can't do.

SAM: There'll be thrills and spills along the way no doubt. I guess kids will come along one day and that's going to be a challenge. But I'm so happy it's as if though I'm at the top of the hill just looking out. I wouldn't be dead for quids. And Jenny's just one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

But yeah, that's basically my story.

Sam and Jenny are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Jenny now works full time on the farm.

TIME OF THEIR LIVES

VALERIE KING: And now it is our time. We are just too young. We're the "Forever Young Golden Girls."

DAVID ATKINS: Hi I'm David Atkins. I'm a performer, director and choreographer and I'm currently the Artistic Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Tonight's next story is about a group of older women who have only recently discovered the joys of performing. And now they're putting people half their age to shame.

VALERIE KING: Well I've been a working girl all my life. I had 5 children. All of a sudden there's nobody at home and no work to do. I just found that I just could not get up in the morning but if I have one regret in my life, it's that I've always yearned to be part of show business. I couldn't stand here for the rest of my life just ironing or watching "Days of Our Lives" so I just felt that I had to get out and do something, something that I would really enjoy.

FAY BONIFACE: I think the secret is that we're all doing it for the same reason. We're all looking for something to do in our older years of life. I mean it's as simple as that. When I finished work I just found that I just had to do something and fortunately for me this is it; to be a Golden Girl.

VALERIE KING: Betty Crocker is our teacher. She's absolutely wonderful. She's a professional dancer and it shows. She is a hard taskmaster. She's a complete disciplinarian. She expects great things from us and if you aren't willing to commit then Betty's attitude is, well you really are not interested in being in my work. But the reason why she's such a hard taskmaster I worked it out for myself, she wants us to look good. And we certainly do.

BETTY CROCKER: Well we're having a concert at Blacktown. The girls are a little bit rusty but we're doing our very best to give you a good show. They've gone right back to the roaring twenties. They think they're teenagers again.

We've got a few ladies that didn't start dancing until they were 60 and now they're 66, 67 so how they've ever learnt to get this far in dancing when you start at 60 I don't know but by golly they have.

VALERIE KING: Now it's our time. We've raised our families, we've had our working careers or whatever, we've built our houses, (looked after our grandchildren), waited on our husbands, some of us have even discarded them and now we get our time. We are going to spend the next hundred years doing what we want to do.

BETTY CROCKER: A busy week for the Golden Girls is extremely busy. Like maybe a six-day week. Our fingers are as busy as our feet. We also make our own costumes.

Well we're having our sewing day. We all come to Joy's place. Sewing machines in one hand and there's overlockers in the other.

Okay guys. Girls have we all got something to do? We've got to make the day count.

FAY BONIFACE: We get inside there's material everywhere. There's clothes racks. We all get into it. We cut out, we stitch. It's like a sweatshop. Like an assembly line. We laugh, we joke, we sew.

That's how it goes for the whole year until every costume is made. If you don't know how to dance at the end of the year, you sure know how to make a dress.

BETTY CROCKER: I'm a pretty bossy beaver, only in dancing though. I do design the costumes and I make the first costume and then I bring it into the girls. The girls before I joined them had costumes and this is a horrible thing to say and we're all grandmothers and we're proud of it, but we really look like grandmothers if you know what I mean, now we do look a little different. I'm very proud of my costumes.

GOLDEN GIRL: We raised the hemlines because we thought aw well let's go for it.

GOLDEN GIRL: At our age it's mindful of it but you've got to get in there and have fun.

BETTY CROCKER: Every show we do we print up about 3,000 leaflets. We give them out to each of the girls and in their different areas they all do letter box drops, because that's where we get our audience from.

It's a heavy time all around preparing for a show. It's not just learning to dance for US. The two guys, who load our trailer, do our sound, and our compering of the show, that's my husband and Joy's husband. Charles and Kevin we're lost without them. They're there every performance we do.

The aim of it is to give people pleasure. That's our main aim and if we think two years ago we'd ever be doing what we're doing at this time now two years later, we were quite happy to go around the little nursing homes, retirement villages and that's what we had intended doing.

But we were very lucky and got asked by several big places to dance and we've just come on like a house on fire this year.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I've seen them 3 or 4 times. It's marvellous entertainment. I just have nothing but admiration for them and they do this for free. I'd pay to come here you know. The choreography is so cleverly done that it squeezes every ounce of entertainment out of a very efficient dancing sort of routine because they're old people. They're like me.

CRISTENE MOTBEY: The first time for me when I really went on stage, I was fine, I thought this is terrific. Just before it was curtain time Betty looked at me and said "are you alright Chris". I went "I can't " and I could not get a deep breath and she said nerves are good, nerves are good. And I'm thinking, no they're not; no they're not.

BETTY CROCKER: (To Girls): Okay guys when you get out there do the best you can do. Good on you - psyche yourself girls. This is it.

VALERIE: I would never consider the day when I couldn't dance. Not only haven't you got time to think of all the dreadful things. But I mean we're all together and we're happy and we share our good times and our bad.

We are just too young. We're the forever young older girls.

The audience you find.. they like seeing the legs. We all give great thanks to shimmers, don't we.

VALERIE KING: Holds in all the veins. It's like putting a sausage in skin. It's amazing what you can tuck in when you have to or when you want. But I do admire the girls legs even me being a woman. I remember the first time I saw them just as when I came just to see the show, once the curtain opened I just said, "aw look at their legs."

BETTY CROCKER: For me when I pull off a really good show the feeling can't be explained. I probably cry for a week. I can't come down off cloud nine. It means the world to me. It's made my year. I'm right until the next one.

VALERIE KING: We've come this far and people can look at us and think that we're glamour girls and that we haven't aged and we can still do what we do. We've still got the ability and I think that makes us feel great.

GOLDEN GIRL: Valerie was very emotional. When she came off I think she thought she was Debbie Reynolds or something she was wonderful. So she thinks she's a real star now.